


Wake Me at Midnight

by L_Greene



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, New Year's Eve, Original Characters - Freeform, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-20 05:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13139814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Greene/pseuds/L_Greene
Summary: Gabe and Jack's parents come to visit for New Year's.





	Wake Me at Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> My gift for [Lou (fanfiction4thewin112)](http://fanfiction4thewin112.tumblr.com) on Tumblr for the [R76 Secret Santa](http://r76secretsanta.tumblr.com) gift exchange! She requested "slice of life," so I figured New Year's would be a pretty good slice! Happy Holidays!

The holidays were always stressful for Gabriel--if it wasn't one thing going wrong (his younger brother Alvaro backing into his rental car on a visit home), it was another (Jack's family loading everything down with cheese, which did Gabriel's lactose intolerance no favors). Fortunately, they didn't have a repeat of the cheese incident, but Gabriel lived in constant terror of his brother's parking after that. He and Jack switched every year between their families, spending New Year's with either the Reyes family or the Morrison family while preferring to keep their Chanukah and Christmas celebrations on their own. After ten years, their neat little system had served them rather well, since they couldn't really afford to visit both California and Indiana every year.

Sometimes, though, Gabriel wished they could just spend one year at their house in New Mexico. Even though his parents would probably insist on flying down to see them and then Jack's parents would get wind of it and try to wrangle their own invitation, and even though he didn't like the idea of cooking for a bunch of extra people, he had this notion of a nice, quiet New Year's Eve at his own house with just Jack.

And then he finally got his wish--sort of. After ten years together, eight of them married, they were finally approved to be foster parents. Within six months, they had two children living with them: nine-year-old Jesse and seven-year-old Olivia. Neither of them had had any siblings, but they'd bonded with each other in their previous foster home, so Gabriel and Jack had agreed to take in both of them. The first few months were rocky, with Gabe and Jack being called by the school nearly every week--Olivia kept trying to fight kids bigger than her who would bully other kids, while Jesse would verbally challenge his teachers every chance he got. Gabe never admitted it to the school, but he thought the kids were great.

Summer came and went, and after Jesse and Livi started going to a different school in the district, things evened out a bit more. It helped that Jesse had practically begged to join the school's soccer team (two of his friends were already on it), and then Livi wanted to join too since Jesse was doing it, so they were both able to blow off steam after school. It also gave Gabe and Jack their first real taste of being boring, suburban parents. Gabe was surprised to realize that he didn't mind it all that much.

There were a lot of firsts that year--besides Jesse and Livi's first soccer game, there was also Jesse's first A on a report card (English), Livi's first science fair (second place), both of their first birthdays with Gabe and Jack, and, of course, their first holiday season together. It would also be the first time Gabe's and Jack's parents would be meeting Jesse and Livi. Before this, it had been video calls *and birthday gifts, but now would come the actual face-to-face meeting, and Gabe was doubly worried. Both his and Jack's parents seemed to love the kids, but they had only spoken to them a few times for about ten minutes at a time. Even more worrying, though, was the fact that it would be the first time since their wedding that both sets of parents would be in the same zip code at the same time--and now, they would all be staying with Gabe and Jack for New Year's.

The Morrisons were the first to arrive, with Jack's parents flying in from Indiana and Jack going to pick them up from the airport. Livi had decided to tag along for the ride (which Gabriel didn't mind because he was already starting on dinner and she constantly wanted to "help"), leaving Gabe and Jesse to get everything ready for dinner. Gabe was a bit worried about Jesse--the main reason Livi had latched onto him so quickly after they first met was because Jesse was skittish around new adults and she'd begun stepping up to protect him. It had taken them a few weeks of careful treading--not forcing him to open up, letting him set his own pace, giving him encouragement and their full attention whenever he did choose to say something--but he finally learned he could trust them. Gabriel hoped he wouldn't close back up when their parents arrived, but he was already prepared for it.

The front door banged open about an hour after Jack left, and in sailed the Morrisons--Grace tugging a suitcase behind her and Tom weighted down with a box that looked like belated Chanukah presents. Jack and Livi followed close behind, with Livi stubbornly struggling with another rolling suitcase that looked almost as big as her.  _She insisted_ , Jack mouthed to Gabe, who'd opened his mouth to protest.

Jesse immediately went to hide behind Gabe.

"It's okay, kiddo," Gabe said, squatting down to ruffle Jesse's hair. Livi led Jack's parents into the master bedroom; Gabe's parents would be sleeping on a pullout sofa in the study, and Gabe and Jack themselves had another pullout sofa in the living room to sleep on. "You remember Jack's parents, right? They're the ones who sent you that cowboy hat for your birthday."

Jesse stared anxiously in the direction that Livi had gone and then nodded slowly.

"You don't have to talk to them until you're ready, okay?"

Jesse nodded again, his shoulders losing their tension.

"Do you remember that my parents will be here tomorrow, too?"

"Yeah."

 _Good._  It was always a good sign when he started talking again after skittering away. "Great. Jack's parents and my parents are good people. It's okay to be nervous, though. If you need to leave, you can, though."

Jesse nodded more vigorously. "Okay."

"Okay. Good. Can you help me set the table for dinner?"

Gabe's parents arrived the next day, about two hours after lunch. They had decided to drive in from Los Angeles, so by the time they arrived, they were too exhausted to do much but take a nap for an hour or so. By the time dinner rolled around, Livi was so excited by all the new people around that watching her was like witnessing a tornado. Between showing off her rock collection and gushing about the soccer team, she had all four new adults completely enthralled. That suited Jesse just fine--he stayed safely tucked away behind either Gabe or Jack, whoever happened to be closer.

Livi's excitement also had a lot to do with the fact that she would be allowed to stay up until midnight to ring in the New Year--she'd never stayed up so late before, and she felt very grown-up. She even asked to have a cup of coffee to help her stay awake, but after she took a sip from Gabe's mother's cup, she made a face and didn't ask again.

Jesse giggled. A good sign. Jack's dad had started doing impressions earlier in the evening, and, heartened by Jesse's laughing, had continued, making his impressions more and more ridiculous. Jesse was slowly starting to relax again.

Around ten, as the adults watched the footage of the ball in Times Square descend, Jesse disappeared. Gabe made to get off the couch to go find him, but Jack put his hand on Gabe's knee. "Just leave him for now. He'll come back out when he's ready," he whispered.

"Alright," Gabe said, nodding even as he looked back toward Jesse's room.

Jack turned out to be right, though, and Jesse reappeared about ten minutes later with the cowboy hat on his head. Shuffling his feet and twisting his fingers together, he asked quietly, "Can I sit with you?"

Gabe squeezed Jack's hand, watching as Grace and Tom scooted apart to let Jesse sit between them. "He's doing really well."

Livi didn't make it to midnight. She fell asleep across Lupe and Pietro's laps before ten-thirty, so Jack got up and gently carried her back to her bed. Jesse fared a little better, holding out until nearly eleven, but soon enough, he yawned and finally nodded off against Grace's shoulder. They left him where he was since he looked comfortable, more comfortable than Livi had been. Gabe, too, was close to drifting off, snuggled up against Jack's chest. "If I fall asleep, wake me at midnight," he mumbled, closing his eyes.

Jack, rubbing his thumb over Gabe's shoulder, whispered, "Sure thing, hon," and kissed his forehead.

He didn't actually fall asleep, remaining instead in some kind of in-between space where he was aware of what was happening but unwilling and unable to open his eyes. Jack and their parents spoke quietly so as not to wake Jesse, and Gabe lay against Jack, enjoying the feeling of being at home, being with his husband, knowing his foster kids were safe and happy tonight. It was the first New Year's in a long time--maybe even ever--that he was completely satisfied with.

And then Jack shook him gently. "One minute."

Gabriel pried open his eyes, sitting up slightly. The footage of the ball in Times Square played again, the volume turned down but still audible. Jack's arms around him tightened as they watched the seconds tick by, the last of the year dying out and finally--

_Five._

_Four._

_Three._

_Two._

_One._

Gabe tilted his head back and Jack kissed him, his thumb tracing the arch of Gabe's cheekbone. He savored the moment, completely, blissfully wrapped up in Jack, and then his husband leaned back. "I love you," he whispered. "Happy New Year."

"I love you, too," Gabe said, squeezing Jack's hand. "Happy New Year. Now I'm gonna go put Jesse to bed."

Jack chuckled. "Good luck."

Shaking himself awake, Gabe stood up and carefully picked up Jesse, whose hat fell askew. Jesse unconsciously wrapped his arms around Gabe's neck but didn't wake up, at least not until Gabe gingerly lowered him to his own bed. "Good night, kiddo. Happy New Year," he whispered, setting Jesse's hat on the nightstand next to him.

Jesse sighed and pulled the covers tighter around himself. "Night, Papa," he murmured sleepily, not opening his eyes.

Jesse and Livi only called them by their first names--not Dad or Papa or anything like that. Hearing Jesse call him Papa, even mostly-asleep like he was, filled him with a surprising warmth. He liked it. And maybe this year would be the first year of their family, with Jesse and Livi as their actual children. Gabe could definitely get used to that.


End file.
